Study Buddy
by JaydenBell
Summary: fill for a prompt in the LJ puck/rachel drabble meme: Rachel is a nursing student practicing head-to-toe exams. Puck lets her practice on him.


Rachel dropped her books on the coffee table as she walked into the apartment (yeah, Puck was rubbing off on her…those books used to go straight to her desk when she got home from school). "Noah?" she called through their home. "It smells like my leftover pasta in here; I know you're home."

"Wasn't hiding, B," she heard a flush from the hall bathroom. "Just trying to take a poop in peace." The water ran in the bathroom, and she heard him shuffle around as he hung his towel back up (she rubbed off on him too).

He came out and closed the door behind him (again, they were influencing each other, whatever). "What's the emergency, Berry?"

"I need help with my homework. My partner is ridiculous and flaked on me again," she sighed, exasperated.

He shrugged. "Sure. Whatever you need. But if you're practicing shots and IVs again, I'm going to demand a case of beer as a reward."

"No, no needles this time. We're doing physical exams. Head to toe, learn how a person's body looks compared to the text books and any other person's body. We have to know how to do a proper physical to note of any abnormalities and so on in the body. It's really simple and isn't that hard to do, but my partner sucks and needs to buy a new watch or something."

"Hey, relax. I already said I'm here. So," he held his arms out, "I'm your practice dummy for the afternoon. Do with me what you will."

"Thank you, Noah." She turned and walked into the living room to pick up the book and notebook she needed for her physical exams. Opening the notebook to a page with questions on it, she set a pen down on top of it and opened the text book to a page with a drawing of a man standing in anatomical position. "Okay, you can sit, stand, or lie down. Whatever is most comfortable to you."

He pulled out a chair at the table she had opened her books at and perched comfortably on the edge.

"If you were my patient, I would put on my gloves right now, but I think it's safe to say that if you have something I was going to catch, it would have happened by now. Casualty of living together." He nodded in agreement. "So, I'm just going to starts with your head." She placed her fingers gently on his skull and felt around with skilled movements. "If there's pain anywhere, let me know. I'm just checking for fractures," she moved her hands down to his forehead, "skin abnormalities, anything that might raise concern." She pressed her thumbs against his cheek bones, slid her fingers behind his ears and down the back of his neck. When he jumped slightly, she pulled her hands away. "That hurt?"

"Tickled," he smirked up at her.

"Oh, sorry." She continued feeling his neck and shoulders, stopping at the top of his collar bones. She grabbed a penlight from the table. "Okay, open please," she shined the light at his mouth. He complied, sticking his tongue out playfully. "Do you have a sore throat or any trouble with your tongue or teeth?" she asked as she leaned close to look around his oral cavity.

"Nope."

She placed her hand on his head and tilted it back. "Just going to peek up your nose. If I was in a hospital, I would have the proper scope to see up your nostrils better," she looked at his eyes, "but since we're just practicing…" Releasing his head she then pointed to her own nose. "Look right here," she instructed. He did so and kept his eyes trained as she shined the light in each eye briefly.

"Good. Okay, shirt off," she gestured with her fingers in an upward motion.

Reaching back, he grabbed his collar and yanked the shirt off and dropped it on the table. "Your turn," he grinned.

She rolled her eyes. "I was waiting for the snide comments to start," she teased. Reaching out, she took his left arm in both of her hands, running her fingertips over his skin as she inspected it, then supported his joints as she moved his shoulder in its full range of motion, then elbow, wrist, fingers. She moved to his other arm, repeating the process a bit faster, then leaned down. Running her palms down his chest, she felt his ribs with her fingertips as her hands moved down quickly, skillfully (he would have sworn she had been doing this for years if he didn't know she was still in nursing school). "Chest is good. Stand up for me?" When he stood, she turned him around and felt his shoulders and down his back. "Nice strong back," she noted. "Okay, I need to feel of your abdomen. Maybe lay on the couch?"

He walked over and laid back, tucking a throw pillow under his head and got comfortable. "I wish my homework was this comfortable," he smiled up at the ceiling as she sat on the edge of the coffee table and leaned toward him.

"Well I'm glad you're enjoying this," she smirked. Using both hands, she gently pressed on his abdomen with her fingertips, feeling for what could be swollen internal organs or tenderness. "Anything hurt here?" she asked as she probed.

"Nope. Looks like you got an easy patient."

"We're only half done," she pointed out. She grabbed his hand and pulled him upright, mostly just a gesture since she couldn't actually pull him up; he was just too much bigger than her for that to be realistic.

Swinging his feet around, he met her eyes. "Next?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Pants."

He shrugged and stood, hooking his thumbs in the sides of his sweat pants.

"Wait," she held a hand up, his crotch very close to her face all of a sudden. "Are you wearing underwear?"

"I am, as a matter of fact. But I figured you wanted those off too since you're doing a head to toe exam."

She thought for a minute then shrugged. "You know what, I've seen you naked before, and I'm a nursing student; I'm a professional, this isn't a big deal. You do whatever you feel comfortable with as this is only for practice."

Shrugging again, he pulled down his pants and shorts, sitting back down on the couch so she could finish her mock physical. He looked at her face as he tugged his pants off his feet. "Go ahead and look. Might as well. Like you said, you've seen me naked before."

She turned bright red but kept her eyes on his face. "I need you to lie on your back so I can assess your lower extremities, your um, legs and feet."

He laid back and reached for the small blanket thrown over the back of the couch. "Perhaps it makes both the nurse and patient more comfortable if things are covered until that part of the body is examined," he suggested, pointing to her manual and notes she had been referring to throughout the process.

"Right," she nodded, taking the blanket and draping it over his midsection. "Modesty and privacy for the patient are important." Standing to lean over him, she reached to feel his hips through the blanket. Placing one hand on his hip and the other behind his knee, she guided it up, explaining in her professional voice that she was again checking range of motion and the integrity of his joints. She moved down his knee and to his foot. She stressed the importance of good foot care for someone who wears steel-toed leather boots all day long, that he was more prone to fungal infections.

He nodded and thanked her for the advice in his "patient" voice.

She assessed his other leg, his joints, muscle tone, and skin, then clasped her hands together. "We're all done. You're in great shape."

"Rach?" he raised an eyebrow. "You're a grown up. We both are." He refrained from looking in the direction of his groin. "Finish the exam. You'll be a better nurse for it."

"You're right," she nodded, "absolutely right." She picked the sides of the blanket up in both hands and carefully laid it in several folds on the other side of his body. She put her 'nurse's voice' back on and began to explain what she was going to do. "I'm just going to check for any enlarged lymph nodes, nodules, or skin problems." She used three fingertips of her right hand to trace down his left groin area in short steps, noting the size of the nodes under the skin. She moved to the other side, then restated her goal in the exam. "I'm just going to feel for any anomalies, and I apologize if my hands are cold."

He refrained from making eye contact when she looked at him, only stared up at the ceiling with his hands folded over his chest, nodding as she spoke. Really, this wasn't as uncomfortable as he thought it would have been; she was very professional and he already knew she was going to be a great nurse. She was just further proving that. He only thought of her as a medical professional doing her job.

His penis was having a hard time with that concept, he realized halfway through that thought. He was very aware of her small soft hands quickly and tenderly probing his genitals. He focused on taking slow deep breaths, hoping that he could keep it together long enough for her to finish the exam. He wouldn't deny that he was attracted to her, but not in this way. He was attracted to her because she was hot; not because he thought she might be stellar in bed with those tiny deft hands.

'Okay, bad thought process while someone is touching your junk. Back to deep breathing and counting bumps on the ceiling,' he thought.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could hear her talking, trying to diffuse the situation by staying in her nurse's mindset. But as her fingers pulled his foreskin back, saying something about the skin under there being more prone to infection, he realized he was in a lot of trouble.

And he knew she realized it too, because he definitely just felt the hesitation that likely rocked through her whole body.

He heard her chuckle in spite of herself. "That can be a natural reaction to a physical exam, nothing to be embarrassed about," she assured him, slipping between Rachel the nurse and Rachel the best friend. She blushed as she reached over to pick the blanket back up and drape it over him again.

Puck laughed when he looked down his body to confirm that the blanket wasn't laying flat. Sitting up quickly, he held the blanket against his stomach. "So, um, I'm gonna go take a cold shower and we're going to be adult about this and pretend it never happened until we're drunk enough to laugh about it again."

She nodded and backed up so he could step away from the couch. "That sounds, that's a good idea."

He wrapped the blanket securely around his waist, picked up his pants and headed toward his bathroom. Once the door was securely closed behind him and the shower was running, she dropped back on the couch, grunting in frustration. "Okay," she looked at the ceiling, "please tell me exams aren't going to be THAT awkward."

She picked her book back up and turned a few pages, preparing to fill in the information required for her practice exams. As her eyes skimmed over the part about privacy and dignity again, she flashed back to her classroom lecture.

"There may be times that things are a little awkward, particularly when doing physical examinations on the opposite sex, but it's normal. As long as everyone is professional and courteous, the awkwardness will soon fade. And remember," Dr. Nelson looked out at her classroom, "with all you lovely ladies, and gentleman," the class laughed as they all glanced over at the one male in the room, "it would indeed be more awkward for the young man you might be examining than it is for you."

She closed her book on her pen. Was this awkward for reasons other than just the obvious space invasion?

There was only one way to find out.

She didn't bother knocking – seemed really pointless now – as she stepped into his bathroom. She stepped out of her shorts and pulled her sweatshirt over her head. Reaching just past the curtain, she grabbed the shower knobs and adjusted the temperature; no way was she jumping into a cold shower.

When the temperature changed, she heart him jump and the curtain pulled to one side. His eyes went wide when he saw her standing there.

"Was it a physical response or psychological?"

"Physiological. Can't expect a guy to lay there with you touching him that way and not expect the mind to wander."

She stepped forward and into the tub, pulling the curtain closed behind her. "Good. Just had to make sure before I did this." Pushing them both under the warm spray, she kissed him. And she smiled when his arms slid around her and he kissed her back.

If he was lucky, she might treat him to another physical exam very soon.


End file.
